Why I'm not going to listen to few Sikhs asking me not to celebrate Diwali

This Diwali too, my WhatsApp was awash with video, audio and text messages, asking the likes of me to shun India's most celebrated event in order to prove I am a true Sikh.

I found the texture of those sermons highly divisive. I don't know who the real authors of this rancorous propaganda are, but the ferocity with which it's circulating on social sites, especially the insanely prolific WhatsApp, is totally flabbergasting.

I don't think these self-anointed custodians of the Sikh faith fathom the damage they are trying to inflict on the community that's spread across the world.

Are they trying to tell the diasporic Sikhs not to wish a Merry Christmas to fellow Christians in Europe, the Americas and the Australian continent?

Are they also trying to tell Sikh entrepreneurs in the Arab world not wish a Happy Eid to their local partners and fellow Muslims?

No, they aren't. Then why pick and choose Diwali in a country where the religion is born?

Festivals can be broadly classified into three categories - cultural or religious, seasonal and national.

Every culture celebrates its legends, histories and iconic landmarks as a larger occasion to assimilate and strengthen social bonds.

Realistically, every celebration is marked by some typical activities. In India, they are religious rituals. If you are allergic to them, don't perform them. No one will force you to.

Even I would not like to participate in certain activities I find hollow. But that doesn't mean I'll climb to my roof-top and start denouncing them.

This Diwali too, my WhatsApp was awash with video, audio and text messages asking the likes of me to shun the festival. (Photo credit: India Today)

I have to be sensitive about the society I live in as I expect them to be sensitive about my beliefs.

Social media is a dangerous tool. What if there's a tit-for-tat reaction from vested interests with a WhatsApp campaign to dissuade Hindus from visiting gurdwaras or participating in gurpurabs?

Is that what you want? Where will it end?

The Guru Granth Sahib is a distillation of the greatest thoughts, a treasury of great truths and enduring ideas. It delivers to us the philosophies in an ever-widening stream of inspiration.

Look at the diverse selection of the writings contained in the Guru Granth Sahib. The most sacred compilation of the Sikh faith embodies the thoughts of six Gurus and spiritual practitioners from across cultures and languages of the region.

Just see the disparate background of 15 writers, classified as "bhagats", whose collection of 922 hymns is incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib - Jaidev, Namdev, Trilochan, Parmanand, Sadna, Ramanand, Kabir, Pipa, Beni, Dhanna, Sain, Farid, Surdas, Bhikhan and Ravidas.

Gurmukhi is the script in which the Guru Granth Sahib is written but it's not dependent on any single language or the geographical boundaries of Punjab.

The collective writings offer a solution to tensions, conflicts and anxieties of human life.

Participation in festivals of other cultures is in no way demeaning. Rather it's uplifting.

If I celebrate Diwali at home, as I would any other major occasion if I were in any other part of the world, it would not swallow up my own culture.

It, instead, would help me evolve as a universal human - and that essentially is the message of the Guru Granth Sahib.